Heineken sues Dutch supermarket chain Jumbo over delisting

The Netherlands | Heineken and Jumbo have been negotiating the conditions for their cooperation in 2025, but have not reached an agreement on prices yet. As a result, products such as Amstel, Birra Moretti, Brand and Desperados are hard to find on Jumbo’s shelves.

Austria’s independent brewers poke fun at Heineken’s Brau Union

Austria | Who actually owns the beer we drink? This is exactly what Austria’s privately-owned breweries want to communicate. And they are doing it with rather striking and funny slogans. However, they do not want their campaign to be seen as “corporation bashing”, but as purely educational.

German brewers face 35 percent tariff on canned beer to the US

Germany | It must have come as a shock to Europe’s brewers exporting their beer to the United States: Not only will importers pay the baseline 10 percent tariff. They will also have to pay a 25 percent levy if the beer comes in cans.

German beer exports under pressure (and not just in America)

Germany | Enjoying a beer after work is still part of everyday life for many people in Germany. However, new data show that beer consumption has fallen significantly in recent years. Germans drank an average of 88 litres beer last year. In 2014, it was still almost 103 litres of beer, a decline of 15 percent.

Danes boycott US products like Coca-Cola, Carlsberg says

Denmark | Because US President Trump keeps threatening to annex Greenland, American relations with Denmark are particularly tense. This is apparently also reflected in the consumption of Coca-Cola products in Denmark.

Heineken concerned over US tariffs

The Netherlands | Heineken shrugged off the threat of tariffs earlier this year, but now the company is raising more concerns about potential disruptions to its business. In the Dutch brewer’s first quarter 2025 report, released on 16 April, Heineken’s CEO Dolf van den Brink indicated that US tariffs, particularly those targeting canned beer, could force it to adjust spending and investments.

United Kingdom | Tariffs on Scotch whisky exports to the US have been called “disappointing” by the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) and could have a wide impact on the industry. Announced on 2 April by President Donald Trump, the UK is now facing a 10 percent blanket tariff on the exports of its goods to the United States.

Mexican tequila and Canadian whiskey exempt from US tariffs for now

United Kingdom | Diageo, the world’s largest drinks firm, avoided the worst of President Trump’s chaotic trade policy this month. Not only were its Don Julio tequila in Mexico and Crown Royal whiskey in Canada spared additional tariffs – they are altogether exempt from import tariffs in the US under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), a free trade agreement which was negotiated by the first Trump administration and came into effect in 2020.

Diageo sells another brewing asset in Africa, this time in Seychelles

United Kingdom | Diageo has sold its majority stake in Seychelles Breweries to Mauritius-based Phoenix Beverages for around USD 80 million, media reported in early April. The owner of Guinness held a 54.4 percent stake in the only total beverage company in Seychelles, which also makes SeyBrew beer. The firm will continue to be listed on the Seychelles Stock Exchange after the deal is closed.

Danish distiller Stauning in trouble after Diageo exits incubator Distill Ventures

Denmark | British drinks firm Diageo is changing its strategy, which will hit the award-winning Danish distiller Stauning hard. On 28 March Stauning had to lay off 13 of its 50 employees and cut production by half. The future looks uncertain, now that its main investor Diageo has backed out of its incubator Distill Ventures.